Burnaby's Kaitlin Burnett spent Wednesday afternoon delivering about than 250 letters to Education Minister George Abbott, urging the B.C. government to bring in a provincewide school policy on sexual orientation and gender identity.
"I feel fairly good about what we've accomplished so far, but it's certainly not over," said Burnett.
The letters, sealed in purple enve-lopes, are part of the Purple Letter Campaign, started by Burnett and Vancouver school board facilitator Ryan Clayton. People from all across the province were invited to tell their stories about why such a policy
would be needed in B.C.
"I think the Purple Letter Campaign has done very well so far, but our goal is still to get a policy passed, and I'll be happy once that policy passes," Burnett said.
The two were hoping to get as many letters as possible and were hoping for at least 100. One of the more moving letters for Burnett was penned by Leroy Wan, who described how homophobia can start young.
"My grade school experience included kids calling me names daily," Wan wrote. "There wouldn't be one day in school without an incident. Kids threw rocks at me. I had no friends, and when I told a supervision-aide or a teacher about what happened, they would either not believe me and call me a liar or accuse me of completely unrelated things."
Things seemed to get better for Wan as he got older.
"I became a high school student, where I not only realized who I was, but I embraced it when my friends and I established the first gay-straight alliance (group) at our little school of Templeton in East Vancouver. - At the end of the day, it is all about equality, not special treatment. These young people just want the respect that every person deserves."
For Burnett, the letter was a reminder of why they are organizing the campaign and the importance that schools are safe and inclusive for everyone.
The B.C. Teachers' Federation, the Vancouver school board and Burnaby Teachers' Association have all stepped forward to endorse the campaign.
A spokesperson from Abbott's office said the minister intends to read the letters but isn't yet available for comment. Burnett said her next step is to keep the pressure on the government till the province has a policy for all schools to protect kids from homophobia and transphobia.
For more on the campaign, and to read the rest of Wan's letter, go to purplelettercampaign.ca.
